The present invention pertains to communication systems and more particularly to communication systems supporting group calls which utilize internet protocol (IP).
Group calls are similar to conference calls in which a number of subscribers are interconnected for the purpose of common conversation. Modern technology supports both wireless and wireline users in these group calls.
Typically group calls are manually initiated by an originating user calling and establishing connection with a first participating user, then another participating user, etc. The originating user must control the selection and implement the connection to each of the participating users. This is very often time consuming and a slow lengthy process. Further, the originating user must have the capability of initiating conference calls via the originating user's local network.
In more recent times, service providers offer a bridging arrangement for connecting multiple participants in a conference call. Typically these participants call in to a common number and enter a password for security purposes and then are interconnected through the bridging service provided by the service provider. Again, this is slow and it is up to each individual participant to call in to a common conference.
Modern wireless technology provides for supporting group call functions. These arrangements typically involve dispatch services or push-to-talk (PTT) services. These group call interconnections may be made to wireline participants via the internet, for example. Typically the groups for the group call arrangements presently known are statically defined. That is a user, or administrator working on behalf of the user, must indicate to the switching network a list of participants for a group call in the background mode, or well in advance of the group call. This could be provisioned in the network by the user or an agent, and then provided some form of group identity to make the call. Then at another time an originating user may perform some signaling to initiate that he wishes to establish a group call with each of the pre-designated participants.
As the needs of the originating participant change, this predefined group membership often leads to an inappropriate group for a particular set of circumstances. Often groups are larger than they need to be, since it is unknown when a group is established who will be needed for given future communication. Also, this presents a problem of privacy, since participants may be hearing a conversation that the originating user does not want them to hear. Further, this statically defined/provisioned group call wastes network time and resources and is relatively inflexible.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method for maximizing communication efficiency for group calls in a communication system.